Sealing Away Tomorrow
by CartoonKing
Summary: When Naruto is born Minato sacrifices himself to save his wife Kushina Uzumaki and their son Naruto during the Kyuubi no Kitsune's attack but what kind of change will this create in Naruto's life thanks to his success? Find out in a world where Kushina runs Konohagakure as the Fifth Hokage and constant attacks by unknown assailants end up making her and her boy a target for all.
1. Fallen Mother

**Prologue  
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><p>Wind whispered through the trees as a young, seven year old boy lay deep within a mangled grove gazing up at the clear blue sky. "Naruto-kun!" "Naruto-kun!" a woman's voice called to him.<p>

The boy, whose eyes matched the sky above him, sat up and felt a number of golden, orange, and red leaves fall down the back of his blond nape. He smiled knowing the owner of said voice and turned his head. His white shirt was covered in a rich, black mulch on the back but on his front the fiery, red words "Hokage!" sprang to life on his shirt. He really wasn't sure what it meant, but as he sat there in a pair of short orange shorts and black sandals he waited for the person calling him to approach him only to find a strong line of elm trees blocking his view. Their white branches towered over him and cast much of the grove he sat in shadow allowing for a third occupant to remain unseen. This person charged an electrical current through a kunai they held and threw it towards Naruto before jumping down from the trees and dashing away from the grove under the cover of its outermost limbs.

The kunai came flying towards his left side and passed right over his head streaking through the tree's gnarled limbs to hit the woman calling him directly in the stomach. She fell down splattering her blood on the earth as it mixed with her fiery red hair and stained a pink apron and yellow sun dress she was wearing. "Naruto! Run!" she screamed.

"Kaa-san!" he cried as tears filled his eyes. He had no idea what was going on, but instead of running he crawled over to her and grabbed the kunai lodged in her stomach. His hands trembled but he desperately wanted to pull it out.

"Don't Naruto," she cautioned wrapping her hand around his trembling knuckles, "If you pull it out now I'm not going to make it."

"Mom," he wailed putting pressure on the weapon piercing her stomach, "I don't want you to die."

The woman grit her teeth in pain she wasn't sure what to say now since she wasn't even sure who had attacked her despite being careful the last seven years in order to protect her son. Whoever they were they had not stepped out of the place they were hiding in, but she could assume they were not far away from the grove's ring of elm trees. Her blue eyes scanned the area trying to find who might have thrown the weapon at her, however, after a few seconds of doing this her eyes closed.

"Mother!" Naruto screamed.

"Naruto..." she said exasperating what appeared to be her last breath.

Two minutes later two men and a woman wearing porcelain wolf masks, black body suits, boots, and gloves landed next to Naruto and his mother. Each carried a tanto on their back and were reaching for them as they surrounded the kid and prepared to defend him. One of them with spiky, silver gray hair spoke up and said, "I'm so sorry we're late Kushina. I-I mean Hokage." He turned his head and looked down at Naruto hiding the sorrow in his eyes with the mask he wore.

Naruto had no idea why his mother and he were being attacked but if any of the ANBU had time to say anything they would say this, "Seven years ago, your mother, Kushina gave birth to you on the night of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's attack. In the midst of that attack the Fourth Hokage died defending the village and rescued Kushina resulting in her survival. You have been since raised by her and we three ANBU have protected both of you in her current position as Hokage, or the Fire Shadow. Even now, people still seek to kill you both."

Yet the man, who lifted up his mask and revealed a long scar across his left eye, knew this to be over the boy's head at the moment. He could see the terror in his eyes and realized all the boy wanted was to save his mother. Strangely though, no new weapons, no jutsus, or traps were sprung within the two minutes it took the ANBU to to get there nor afterwards. They waited for another minute, but after doing so the ANBU with short cropped hair raised his right hand and gave a thumbs up. The coast seemed clear as they all heard the sounds of wood thudding against the ground.

The woman, a lady with purple hair that went down her back rushed to Kushina pulled out the kunai and put pressure on the wound. "I think I can stabilize her, but we need to move her to the nearest hospital."

Kakashi grabbed some bandages out of pouch he wore clipped to the back of his waist and tossed them to the woman. She caught them and he told her, "Patch her up fast then and let's bring the boy. It's too terrifying to be here and way out in the open."

Yamato without question scooped up Naruto into his arms and held him against his chest as the woman frantically tore off her apron and the center portion of her dress and wrapped her torso underneath. She would then re-tie the bottom half of her ruined dress into a skirt at the hip and lift her up carefully. Kakashi hurried to her side and with his help the two managed to get the unconscious Kushina on her feet. All four then disappeared in a flash as they took to the trees and headed towards Konohagakure.


	2. Two Incidents, One Day

**Two Incidents, One Day**

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><p>The three members of Team Ro headed with Naruto and Kushina Uzumaki in tow towards their home village as they approached the gates of the Village Hidden in the Leaves though the large wooden of their home stood out with a large mountain overshadowing them, and the rest of the village, at the far end of this place. Surrounding the mountain stood various buildings large and small, but unlike normal mountains this mountain had carved into it the solemn face of Senju Hashirama, the scarred face of Senju Tobirama, the forward looking face of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the hopeful face of Namikaze Minato, and the happy face of the most important Hokage of them all Uzumaki Kushina. Her face on the mountain, what everyone called the Hokage Monument, was the biggest of them all and showed off her long hair as well as her big smiling grin as she looked straight out from the mountain's face. All the Hokage looked elsewhere though as though they realized the importance of their job.<p>

Why this was important was because it showed Team Ro consisting of Yamato, Kakashi Hatake, and Yugao that they were close to home. A good thing; since they hoped that Kushina, through good medicine and a big smile that she was able to pull through another attack on her life. It was clear someone did not like her; in fact, many people did not, since unlike the previous four Hokage she was the least serious, prepared person ever placed in the position. On top of that, she was a woman. If she did not make it through today, Kakashi thought as she looked down at her abdomen, many were going to be quite happy yet also sad that she was gone. He personally felt the world needed more of her kind of people. Not because he was like her, but because he was so opposite from her that he understood how bad the world really was.

His time as a member of the ANBU had shown him that some people were just going to hate kind people like Kushina-san. He understood this as they finished their approach to the gate and waited for the guards posted there to open up the gates for them. As they stood there someone peered out through a small peep hole through the gate then shouted, "Open'em up! It's team Ro with the Hokage and her son!"

The ninjas on the inside followed orders without question and a few seconds later the rumbling gates came fully open. "Status report!" the gate guard cried as he rushed to Kakashi and Yugao.

Yamato took over, stepped towards the guard, and said, "Team leader Yamato reporting in. Hokage was struck by enemy fire while out on a break. Status of the enemy is unknown, but Lady Kushina is in need of medical attention. Also her son needs to find a place to stay while we tend to this." He looked back at the blond haired boy on his back who was still bawling with tears.

The guard immediately grabbed the kid off Yamato's back and set him down. Then he said, "We'll take care of him from here. Get inside and hurry to the hospital."

Yamato nodded and looked back at Kushina whose blood was still dripping profusely out of her opened stomach. "How could just one kunai do this much damage?" he wondered. Then he remembered a very terrible thing; a process that was beginning to occur just as he looked at her. He could see her wound trying to knit itself back together. "Let's hurry Kakashi take Kushina to the hospital I'll meet you there shortly, but before I do I need you to go the Hokage's office right away." he ordered as he looked fearfully into Yugao's eyes. She was a bit young, but Kakashi was certainly not as he looked at the young man and watched him scoop up Kushina bridal style.

"Wait, what are you doing," Yugao asked her silver haired companion as she suddenly felt her charge taken away from her. She tried to grab Kushina, but Yamato rushed over to her and grabbed her hand.

Tenzo rubbed the shortly cropped brown hair on the top of his head after doing this and his pure black eyes widened as he took on a irritable tone and stated to her, "Don't question my orders. We need to find Sarutobi Hiruzen right away. He's not Hokage anymore but I hear he still likes to hang around that place anyway." Yugao felt the man let go of her suddenly and almost felt like pulling the tanto on her back out of its sheath. She did not though because Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves in front of her eyes. He never moved that fast unless it was something serious yet for all intents and purposes she did not understand the reason he was heading to his destination so quickly.

Yamato put his left hand up to his left ear lobe at which point Yugao noticed something strange sticking out from the side of his head. It was a small radio ear bud that clicked to life as he uttered, "Status report on the rest of the village. I repeat the Hokage is down and coming in for medical attention."

She eyed it curiously as a ninja from the village's Anbu operatives stated, "Sir! We've got another problem. The Uchiha clan... You remember how the Third was planning to have Kushina meet with the clan right, well, they're are all dead!" Yamato's black eyes narrowed in horror as he stated aloud, "We've got another problem, but two incidents in one day; this truly an unlucky village. Let's move Yugao!" Even though Yugao wanted to look back and make sure Kakashi made it safely to his destination Yamato grabbed her right hand with his right and yanked her along. It was at this point Yugao's body seemed to freeze. Too much was happening at once for her to handle, however, she knew she needed to remember her training which included relying on her comrades. To bolster her confidence Yamato let go of her hand as they jumped up onto the rooftops made their way along the tiled roofs he allowed her to look back and see the silver and grey speck that was Kakashi fade out of sight. Her head twisted around snapping back into a forward facing position and she hurried with him to the far end of the village even though Yamato was absolutely silent on the incident that they were going to investigate.

When they reached their destination the two of them landed in front of a fenced off wooden gate. The Uchiha crest, a gigantic red and white fan, indicated to the purple haired woman where they were now. The strange thing though was the blood clearly splattered on the door and all of the Anbu now standing around the entrance heading in and out of the area occupied by the clan to search for things, people, and survivors.

"What-what is this?" she uttered. Yamato stayed silent for a moment then said, "It's what we're here to investigate. The Uchiha may all be dead so head in there and find survivors." He then headed over to one of the groups nearest at the right side of the entrance consisting of three people where he stopped before them all and cracked his knuckles. He gave every single operative there a stern look and they all averted their eyes downwards. "We're sorry sir we got here too late..."

There was nothing to be sorry about. All of the Uchiha were dead as far as he knew and the fault behind this was the village's Anbu squads as a whole. Team Ro had been assigned guard duty for the Hokage today. They were meant to be there to protect her while she went to get her son outside the village's boundaries before she headed on to the Uchiha's compound to investigate for one last time if rumors of a coup were true or not. The case being now that they were. It did not add up at all.

Yamato headed back to Yugao only to find her taking the initiative to fulfill his directive to her. She slowly walked through the Uchiha clan's now open gates wanting to cover her mouth when she came into contact with Anbu ops laying out the bodies of the dead along the main street of the complex. She kept her porcelain cat mask on as she headed deeper into the mini-village and found many of the apartment buildings also stained with blood. In the side of one, closest to a small lake at the back end of the place she found a house with a hole in the front door and a boy with pointy, wild black hair and black eyes laying on the ground wearing a blue short sleeved shirt and white pants with black sandals. He looked to be no more then seven or eight years old. He was face down but as she went to turn him over she could see his chest moving up and down underneath of his blue shirt. "I've found a survivor!" she cried. This boy was Sasuke Uchiha.


	3. Those Who Survive

**Those Who Survive  
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><p>Yugao, having found Sasuke Uchiha laying on the ground, ran to him and lifted him up. When she did his body felt extremely light as if his energy had been sapped from him. A ninja in white garb with Konoha head band on his head ran over to her and touched his forehead before forcing open his eyes with his fingers. He announced as the boy's almost life-less eyes stared back him, "He's under a Genjutsu..." then grabbed him from Yugao and said, "Thank you for finding this boy, we will take him from here, please secure the surrounding area."<p>

Yugao did not mind surrendering him to this medical ninja. Anbu were specially trained in many forms of survival and although she was skilled more-so in weapons usage and medical training this was something far beyond her capabilities. She returned to Yamato who looked on at the bodies of the Uchiha and sighed. A great clan was practically wiped from the village in one fell swoop. Now they all had to do something with the only survivor of the clan, well the only one they considered a survivor, for while Yugao went to look for such people Yamato found information out on his own from fellow operatives on this case. Apparently, the culprit of the massacre was a man known well throughout the village as Itachi Uchiha the only, older brother of Sasuke. His powers were so great that by the age of thirteen he was a full fledged shinobi in the same position as other Anbu like Yamato. This was because of his genius skills seen from the age of eight at the academy.

Itachi was one-in-a-million in terms of being a skilled ninja but to have done something like this of his own free will was completely beyond words. Yamato clenched his fists and thought aloud, "Do you think Itachi could have attacked the Hokage?"

Yugao froze in fear and answered, "Its possible..." but the culprit who struck Kushina with a single kunai was not someone they were ready to search for yet. They had yet to even confirm if the two events were of relation to each other or not. That one was actually used to cover up the other was a high possibility in the minds of all who knew of Kushina's condition but beyond that hard evidence pointing one way or the other was not to be seen yet.

Meanwhile, Kakashi managed to reach a rooftop across from the Hokage's office and landed on it with Kushina still in his arms. He held her tightly but noticed her bleeding was not stopping and her face was beginning to become paler then before. "Come on," he uttered, "don't die on me yet." At this rate he knew he would not even make it to the hospital right next door to save her.

So, he then took to leaping across the roof and landed on bamboo slats just below the Hokage's personal room. With all his might he then jumped up to the window above it and found himself resting the soles of his sandals atop a very thin ledge. He rocked forward just so that he would not fall and reached out his hand to plunge a Chidori straight through the window of her office. "I'm in..." he told himself, "I hope that got someone's attention."

Unfortunately, nobody seemed to notice his entrance into her office because all the important people in the village were currently at or heading to the Uchiha residency to investigate their deaths. He looked around and cursed as he stepped over the glass he broke. "Why is this happening to our village?" he wondered as he pushed papers on the Hokage's desk aside and laid Kushina out. If nobody was here to save her he knew he would have to do it.

He then took the bandages made from her off her stomach to examine the wound, but upon doing that something strange happened. Her blood clotted just like it did whenever Naruto got cut. Kakashi knew this from having read reports about the young boy and noticed that he and his mother were able to repair the damage caused to them, however, Kushina's regeneration seemed far more advanced in terms of usability. "Is she going to wake up?" he wondered as he stepped away from her, "I honestly hope so we can figure out what's going on."

He did not want to leave her where she was though so for now he lifted her up one more time, laid her to rest in the chair behind her desk and exited the same way he came. Even though the beast known as the Nine Tailed Fox was a terrible menace in the minds of the villagers it really had a strong self-preservation mechanism for its hosts. Today was a close call though Kakashi felt his hands shake, if he had not checked to see if she was healing he would have had to operate himself in her office, unfortunately, that would not have amounted to much since his skills only went so far as an ANBU ninja.


	4. Chat with a Demon

**Chat with a Demon**

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><p>Kushina was quickly on the road to recovery she felt it in very subconscious even though her body lay unconscious in the real world whilst it sat within her office's seat. She found herself within a bright yellow room with clear blue water beneath her feet still wearing the same clothes she had earlier. Before her lay, the Kyuubi Kurama locked in a small metal box made from iron rods. On the door of his cage was a small piece of paper that read, "Seal!" she approached the paper and as she did felt and saw a red vapor leaking from the cage. Small whisker lines began to form on the red head's face and she smirked at the Kyuubi and said, "Are we seething with rage today my dear little fox?"<p>

"Don't call me little fox! Call me Kurama or I will eat you and our kind assailant alive!" the fox bristled as he grit his teeth and allowed his orange head to come forehead to meet Kushina's at the edge of the cage's door.

"It's a sad thing to say but even though you managed to help me survive, said 'kind assailant' is neither around here nor any part of the village. I feel it definitely within my heart." Kushina giggled, "Although, if you were around him I am sure you would tear him apart. I know I would but since we know they are not here at all everything I assume is a-okay, save for that one matter." Kushina was speaking of the Uchiha massacre. She knew of this and the fact that the assailant had fled because the Kyuubi had passed onto the ability to become extremely sensitive to killing intent when she became his host originally. It was how she knew Naruto was in danger, yet even though she was able to sense this kind of thing; it was not always in her power to protect those she knew were in trouble. She loved making sure people were safe and happy but as the village's newest Hokage she had yet to define what the full extent of her own power was. She was simply, in their minds, a strong user of Fuuinjutsu or Sealing Jutsu techniques. Although they were often useful in battle, many skilled Shinobi were able to use them yet those that she knew particularly were of a non-combative skill set they were primarily for tracking and sealing away the demon within her body should it ever escape.

In that sense, she was a walking human vessel like all Jinchuuriki. She was made Hokage though by the village though because they feared what an adult Jinchuuriki might do to as compared to her own son who only contained the Yang half of Kurama's overall chakra whilst she contained its Yin half. Had Naruto been the only one to live on the night of his own birth Kushina figured she would not only not be in the position she was now but that her son might end up treated differently. How so, she was not certain, but it was not something she questioned since she was here and now and that mattered.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Kurama chuckled lowering his head on top of his forepaws, "There are hundreds dead and the guy you probably want to kill from that incident is long gone."

"I'm not sure but up until last night one of my shadow clones was camped up next to their building. I only saw a brief moment of it but that-that monster Itachi killed everyone." Kushina frowned as she wrung her fists and remembered the sensation of having the burning flames of Amaterasu strike her shadow copy. It had gone down without so much as a scream of pain thanks to the fact that Itachi burned it so quickly. It allowed for no evidence of her presence to be left there but solidified her understanding of the Uchiha's position within her village. He wanted no position in her hierarchy and to make sure no one else in her clan did he had wiped them out. It had caused her to go to her son Naruto the next day under the guise of going on a family outing, even though some people in the village knew that the Uchiha in their complex were on shaky footing with the whole village. She had not told anyone of her outing though last night in hopes that she might be able to save one or two people from any backlash against the village.

Word about the massacre was quick to spread though which led up to events that concurred with it during this morning's attack on Kushina, or at least that's what she thought; however, unless she met with Itachi Uchiha and asked if he somehow got around her village's guards. Her educated guess on his desire to kill hit a dead end. It was entirely possible the culprit was not him since she only remembered seeing and flying a single kunai strike her. Itachi was good but nowhere near that good enough to kill her with just a kunai; frankly, regular ninjas could not do that without meeting some resistance, which she was unable to provide against said attack.

This attack made her feel rather dumb but as she stood there lost in thought she placed her right hand on her hip and looked up at Kurama and uttered, "I feel so stupid for not handling both of these situations Itachi-"

Kurama cut her off at this point and grabbed the cage with his paws, he could tell what she was thinking, and answered, "I suppose you're wondering how you nearly died there and who killed you? Well, it is obvious you do not have a clue. Neither do you know how to be a Hokage! Whether this person attacking you this morning was Itachi or not you needed to have wiped the floor with him! A Hokage is not allowed to show weakness!"

"How am I supposed to do that though when I have been trained to the ordinary standards of a Jonin and not been allowed to fight in years!" Kushina resounded raising her voice at the demon fox.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Kurama laughed letting his lips curl into a smile, "Let me teach you for I can tell you have some fight in you lady! Even with all that lame paper work the office mostly gives you..."

Kushina averted her eyes away from the Kyuubi a moment and then looked at him with a big smile on her face, "Okay, but you better make sure I am stronger then I was with this incident we are going to be chasing a dangerous man, maybe two, and I cannot have my son going unprotected anymore." Kushina then touched the seal on the cage and considered opening it because she realized in order for him to teach her she would need to set him free. She tore the seal away with her bare hands then decided to let whatever happen.

Kurama backed away the doorway before he heard a heavy clunking noise as the gate's lock came undone and the metal bars opened outwards. For the first time in a long time Kurama stepped both his paws forward, arched his back, and leaned forward while lowering his head like a cat. He was finally glad to be free and sat up on his hinds legs. "If I am going to train you I'm glad you realized on your own I had to be free."

"Yeah, well do not think anything of it Mr. Fox. I will be watching you Kurama for any trouble you may cause and I will reseal you if I have to." Kushina warned while crossing her arms over her chest. Today was the start of an uneasy friendship.

"Lesson one will be understanding my regeneration powers..." Kurama began trying to start their potential, new relationship on a serious but positive start. He pointed a long claw on his front left paw at her and uttered, "...the simple wounds to major wounds I help heal in this manner because I have mastered the art of transformation. I am usually just taking cells in your body and infusing them with chakra to morph their shape into a layer of skin. It goes beyond the training of shape and nature transformation. With practice though, a real Jinchuuriki like yourself can do an unprecedented thing."

"And what would that be Kurama?" Kushina pondered tilting her head up to get a better look at him.

"Image transformation... none of this Kage Buushin stuff, none of the henge stuff, and none of the genjutsu stuff you all make as ninja to copy this real ability only you and your son possess now."

"Only we possess? Sounds cool let's get started," Kushina exclaimed while pounding both her fists horizontally together in excitement. It was time to learn from her body's guest rather then view him as the monster everyone thought he was. Why? The reason was because after living with Kurama so long she had come to understand that what she had just given him was all he ever wanted... freedom. She could not grant him anything further then freedom within her own mind thanks to the seal on herself, but as long as she kept her mental composure she felt he was going to be unable to escape like seven years ago.


	5. A Letter from the Third

**A Letter from the Third  
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><p>With the ground rules of letting Kurama lived as he pleased within her own consciousness set, Kushina returned to reality and headed straight for the door to her office. When she got there she turned the knob and found as she opened it Kakashi standing there wearing a full blue-gray body suit and purple sandals. He looked at her with an intense gaze and said, "It seems you are up. That chakra from the Kyuubi seems to always do wonders on you. I was sure we lost you this time."<p>

Kushina bit her lip and said, "Nope, I'm still alive. You know how hardy I am. That said," she reached her arm out and grabbed around his neck, "I didn't like you left me in my office alone."

Kakashi, feeling Kushina tighten her grip around his neck uttered with a grunt, "Well, I can't have whoever it was who attacked you come back. I've been around the perimeter and since then changed into something else to hopefully confuse our assailant. Random actions bring about confusion you know, which is why I'm confused as to why they attacked and left."

"It's a warning to us..." Kushina said releasing her grip around her body guard's neck. "They'll be back to get me later. Anyway, thanks to that I now realize I need to get stronger. I've been behind the desk too long."

Kakashi sighed and said, "Uh-huh, well, on my walk I happened to meet someone; an ANBU coming here to report to you. I believe he was sent by the Third Hokage." He pulled out a piece of paper with a seal on it and handed it to Kushina.

Gripping it in her hand Kushina opened it with a long nail and read it, "'For the Hokage Only, we regret to inform you that the Uchiha clan has but been wiped out. The culprit is no other then Itachi Uchiha. Medical assessment is needed for the lone survivor Sasuke Uchiha and your own son Naruto. If you have recovered from the attack that happened this morning please come and see them and me at the hospital. Otherwise, stay where you are.' -The Third Hokage

Kushina crumpled up the note and allowed her chakra to surge through it causing it to become a damp wad of mush as a result of her natural water affinity. She grit her teeth and stated, "Kakashi, I've recovered. The Third wants to see us let's go see what the geezer has to say."

Kakashi stepped aside and allowed Kushina to lead the way allowing her to slam the door of her office behind her. Kakashi noticed the damp wad of paper and shivered. The Red Hot Habnero was about to take action again. He locked her door behind her and took to keeping a distance of five feet behind her in order to act as a body guard. Kushina marched down the hallway and as she reached the end of it descended the stairs and headed to the building next door with two stories, a set of three towers and the sign "Medicine" on the front. When she went inside doctors walking around with white Leaf headbands on their foreheads and lab coats felt astounded to see her.

"Where in the world did she go to recover and how did she recover that fast?" one doctor in a small group of five pondered to his colleagues.

"I don't know. I heard she had grave injuries though." a member of this group stated.

She walked by them and a fire lit up in her eyes causing their hearts to jump. She slammed her fists together and asked, "Where's my son... Where's Sasuke..."

The doctors responded in unison, "Up-up stairs! First room on the third floor! You can't miss it since it's right next to the stair case!"

Kushina gave them a quick smile then whispered, "Thanks," before huffing off to the stairs of the hospital and climbing them. Kakashi followed in suit but not before saying to the doctors, "Don't worry about her she's fine. Just suffered a few small cuts." He didn't want to give the reality of her situation away to them but if she had been a normal person her wounds would have been more grave.

Up the two shinobi went climbing all the way to the top of the building, and like the doctors said, they found a hospital room right next to the stairs at the top of the hospital building. Kushina approached this room's tan door and reached for the golden knob there while noticing a sign shaped like a leaf that read, "Occupied." in green letters. As far as Kushina knew about the hospital's practices, this meant the residents inside were okay. If the letters were red she knew that it meant the person was in a life threatening scenario. The reason she knew this though was because she had signed this into law as an update for the village's hospital code three years ago when Naruto had come down with a cold. It had taken her forever to find him then and now she was glad to see the hospital a little more forthcoming on their patients and far more organized.

When she stepped into the room with Kakashi behind her she found a short, robed man with a big bamboo hat on standing next to the window with an ash tray on his right. Next to him were two sets of beds propped up on metal trolleys. In one bed a kid with wild black hair sat with blank eyes. He wore the hospital's normal white gowns and did not seem to want to move at all. The boy had a frown on his face and was glaring at the Third Hokage before suddenly scrunching up his nose in disgust.

Next to him sat Naruto with his blond, spiky hair and face aglow. He Currently was bent over a tray eating a plump, golden fish with a big bowl of pork miso ramen next to it. Kushina's jaw dropped at the sight and she turned back to Kakashi who was at the door with her and asked, "Where did we get the ryo for this kind of food!? You should have taken me here!"

Kakashi nudged her aside and then stepped forward before lowering himself on one knee, "Lord Third Hokage. I bring the Fifth Hokage to you now. Feel free to discuss with her what you want. I'm kind of curious as to what you have to say about all that has transpired."

"Indeed you are. Kakashi, Kushina... I am leaving the village in your capable hands. I have called you because the person who attacked you is... Untraceable." The Third wheeled around revealing his haggard face and gray beard and threw a bloody kunai towards Kushina. She managed to catch it between her fingers and felt the sticky, red liquid cover her hands as she stepped through the door and stood next to the bowing Kakashi.

"I assume this is my blood." Kushina stated as she reached into the pockets of her dress and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe it off. "I can clean this right Hiruzen-san?"

"Go ahead, we already checked it after they brought Sasuke here and from what we know Itachi's incident and it are unrelated. This means he did not attempt to kill you." Hiruzen answered while resting his hand under his chin, "It brings to question who really wanted to and as a result I have concluded I may have to investigate due to... unforeseen possibilities."

"And those would be?" Kushina pondered as she cleaned the tool's surface carefully with a gentle stroking.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss."

"Then send me home or better yet. SHOW ME SOME RESPECT!" Kushina hollered as she chucked the kunai past his head and sent it flying out the window.

Hiruzen took a step back and clenched his chest as the hot blooded woman caused his blood pressure to spike. Sasuke at once focused his eyes on her and Naruto, who was sitting nearby lost in eating his meal began to choke on it but luckily managed to swallow it all in a single gulp. Kushina realized what she had done and took a deep breath. She had wanted to calmly come here and discuss things with Hiruzen but the hold man was hard to talk with sometimes, even his own son Asuma felt like he hit walls with the old man.

"The ability of the culprit behind your attack, to throw with the kind of accuracy and power, while still attempting to leave their own identity secret is on the same caliber of Madara Uchiha at best. They will come back and when they do your life is what they will come for, if they find you not dead already. Is there anything you noticed about your attack?"

"They targeted only me. And completely threw their Kunai past Naruto. They seemed therefore only interested in me. And as a result, I nearly died but beyond that I'm not sure."

"The way it pierced Hiruzen, I would say if it caused Kushina to leak out as much blood as she did it could potentially be a person with lightning nature chakra." Kakashi interjected as he stood up and sighed. Now that Kushina had thrown away the evidence there was no way he could actually check and at this point the possibility to check for this was really slim thanks to the fact blood did not hold charges for long. The kunai after all had definitely pierced her far more then a regular one should have. Kushina was not that bad to have forgotten how to deflect kunais. She had definitely lost a great deal of her reaction time and awareness though since taking office and making things far more peaceful in the village. Hiruzen, satisfied with having talked with them left the room and said as he headed out, "I intend to investigate this. Leave everything to me. I think you have given me more solid evidence to my hypothesis. If it is that man though, well, he must be dealt with after all."


	6. Ama-ru and Shin-no Too

**Ama-ru and Shin-no Too**

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><p>After Hiruzen left Kushina decided to take in the words spoken to her by him and thought, "If we are dealing with Madara then what am I still doing here with my son and Sasuke Uchiha? I need to move and protect them."<p>

Yet as she walked over to the two boys young Sasuke simply glared at Kushina and uttered, "Hmph!" before turning his head away from her. He had heard what Hiruzen said about Madara Uchiha and it upset him but not anywhere near as much as the fact that his murderous brother Itachi was still alive. When Kushina reached out her hand to try and comfort him (since she could see he was somewhat traumatized and distant) he reacted by slapping it away. Kushina then turned her head back to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, watch the door and the building. I need someone to guard the hospital while I get somewhere with my boys in terms of understanding what's happening."

Kakashi answered, "Yes ma'am," then crossed his fingers into a t-shape and disappeared in a big cloud of smoke. He climbed out the window though and once he did he landed on the roof of the hospital and threw out four kunai with wires attached to them onto the four corners of the roof. Then he made three hand seals for Bird, Monkey, and Dog before gathering electricity into the palm of his left hand that took the shape of a small wolf's head. Once he had he surged it through the four wires lining the roof and cried, "Raiju's Run Jutsu!" This electrified the wires and below him and with that he began to pick up sounds of people many floors below him walking, running, talking, breathing all at once. In essence, he had amplified the natural sound within the building beneath his feet allowing for him to listen in for trouble should it occur. He sat down on his knees and with nothing else to do pulled out a book entitled Ichi Ichi Paradise and began to read it. Any intruders, if they were after the three on the floor directly below this hospital roof, were going to need to answer to him first before doing anything and he assured this with his security measure.

Inside the building Kushina still tried to touch Sasuke on the forehead to comfort but as soon as she reached her right hand for his forehead the boy hefted a pillow right at her face. "GO AWAY! You people don't care about me! Only the Uchiha name!"

Kushina ducked under the pillow and Naruto now dropped his food and watched in surprise as his mother reached out her arms to this boy and suddenly hugged him. He gawked at his mother's affection and stated, "I want a hug too."

"Not now; Naruto, the boy has been hurt. You're not I hope but I am sorry, so sorry to have left you both to bad fates." She stopped hugging Sasuke who now was frozen like a sheet of ice.

"Fate? I don't want this." He stated, "I just need to kill my brother. It's not fate it's fact that I will do so."

Kushina stood now between the two boys and with strength she seemed to now recover pulled them and their two beds closer as she took the hugging both of them around their necks. "I'm okay, you're okay, we're all going to be... okay."

Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes but before he could say anything to his mom there was a knock at the door. At this point and time all the occupants within the room turned their head towards the door and it opened to reveal a little boy with dark skin and reddish brown hair. Under his blue eyes was a mole on the left side of his face. He wore a blue bandanna, a brown vest, and a pair of long blue pants with a set bronze armbands on his arms and legs and as well as a set of tan slip on shoes on his feet.

Kushina blushed for the little kid was interrupting an important moment to bond with her kid (and hopefully new friend) yet attracted her attention because she had no idea what he was doing there. "Who are you?" she asked as she let go of Sasuke and Naruto.

"I am Amaru," the boy answered. Suddenly, a wrinkled fist came out from behind him and clonked him on the top of the head. "Ow!" he screamed in a whiny voice. An old man popped out from behind the doorway and gazed into the room with yellow eyes as he stroked his gray beard and pulled his fist away from the boy he stepped out from behind the kid and turned to him, bending over in the gold and brown robe he was wearing so he was at the little boy's eye level. "How many times have I told you not to go walking into other people's rooms? We may be allowed into this hospital on the good graces of the Hokage but it's not polite to step into a patient's room like you have. Remember, we're just touring the facility to learn."

"I'm sorry master, I know but how can we-"

The old man put two fingers to the kid's lips and said, "We need not interact with a patient to learn from them always. We can simply observe. If a door is locked don't open it, and don't knock on it." He then stood up, grabbed the kid's hand and tried to walk out of the room. Yet Kushina ran over to the man and said, "You're not bothering us. I-I didn't know the hospital was having guests today; otherwise, I would have been attentive to my own actions."

The old man turned his head and frowned before asking, "Who might you be that you say this? You don't seem important to warrant that kind of language."

"If he only knew." Kushina thought as a half smile of smug contempt crept onto her rosy lips. She then said, "I'm the Hokage of the village."

"Oh," he responded, "Oh! Bow Amaru!" The old man quickly did so clasping the palms of his hands together and bent at the waist slightly (but definitely not halfway) in order to show Kushina his respect to her. He and Amaru had no connections to the woman or great gratitude towards her save for the fact that they realized her position. Amaru, following his master's example copied him and said before straightening up his back with his master in unison, "I am so sorry about before my sense Shinno and I are traveling the Land of Fire; coming from a village at the border of this country, as doctors and came here upon hearing of a village that grants doctors more free practice then anywhere else."

Kushina raised her hands and waved them in front of the two in order to indicate they were at no fault, but then took to bowing back to them in the same fashion before telling them, "It's all right. You really didn't know." In her mind though she thought, "While you really didn't know it's kind of strange you're wandering around here. Then again, I do remember signing off on a notice saying doctors were free to come to the village to learn medical techniques as long as they were not clan related."

She smiled at the two then noticed something about the boy as he blushed. He was not necessarily a boy. He was far too feminine acting, especially with the old mole under his left eye. It almost seemed like a birthmark more frequently seen in women. And he also seemed extremely mature for his age; something that only girls possessed for the most part while young. At this point, Sasuke was silent and had turned away from the antics at hand by pulling the covers over his bed and rolling on his mattress to his right side. Naruto though was a bit wide eyed and his blue pupils sparkled with interest since his mother kept him away from people that came from outside the village. In her opinion, it was safer to do things for him this way since Naruto and her were carriers of the Kyuubi no Kitsune yet by being who she was she made him a target.

While she spoke with the two Kurama awakened from a nap he was having and opened one large, sleepy eye in order to stare at the two talking to her. "Bah, what's going on here?" he asked Kushina which caused her to space out from reality and be drawn within herself.

"Nothing Kurama," she answered him now trying to exit her own mind as she found herself drawn into a mental chamber filled with a pool of water a foot deep. "I'm talking to ordinary people; doctors if you must know they say they come from the Land of Fire."

"Oh, not interesting," the fox muttered with a yawn but as he tried to fall asleep he felt his fur tingle and he focused his red eye on Amaru intently. A black aura hung over the boy's body and he fell asleep as he uttered, "Reibi," while allowing Kushina to briefly see the aura of heavily dense chakra. Kushina, upon seeing this returned to reality and told the two, "While it was not to talk I have things to do. I will let you stay in the village as long as you want to. Feel free to come by and if you would like to come alone Amaru."

She pointed at the boy and then stated, "Naruto would love to play if you have the time!"

After all was said and done the two left happy with their interaction and headed away from the hospital. While they did Kushina walked to the window and watched them. Above her, even though Kakashi was reading, he caught every word of the conversation, pulled out a radio headset from his pocket, and then clicked a button on the side of the head piece.

"Should I follow them? I don't know if they are a threat." he voiced while touching his other hand to the wire he had placed on the roof. The electrical signal vibrated through the building and made its way to Kushina's room through the building's cables where she and her two charges heard him thanks to the message amazingly bouncing off all the walls. Luckily, the window was closed otherwise the message would not reach them.

"Kakashi, they are no problem," she stated while looking up at the ceiling. Her message would go directly back to him and reach him on the roof since this was part of the jutsu's effect to turn a headset that looked like it was not on into a device that could function without being so through simple sound vibrations electrical signals. "Go home."

The one eyed ninja stood up on the roof and then packed up his things while gazing over the ledge to see the two visitors Shinno and Amaru head down the street towards a distant hotel. "Eh, if I need to follow them I will later." He told himself while putting his headset back into his pants pocket. He then jumped off the roof and headed to his home a few roofs away in an apartment complex and called it a day.

Meanwhile, Kushina looked back at her son and Sasuke and while she could not break through the black eyed kid's psychological armor she hoped to some day soon. In this moment though she focused on her own son and walked up to him saying, "Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you the last couple hours or so. I will be a better mother in the future. I know we got interrupted but I wanted to say I love you son and will always be there. I'm better now and will make sure to do so." Kissing Naruto on the forehead she left him alone and exited the room while closing the door behind her. The hospital was going to discharge Naruto in a few hours but for the rest of the day and night he stayed there and it was not until the next morning they let him go home. The young boy though managed deal with this and walked home by himself to find Kushina waiting for him. All was good for now or so it seemed but darker things were yet to come.


	7. Trouble Comes to Town

**Trouble Comes to Town  
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><p>A month's time passed and Hiruzen remained away from the village during this period. Kushina, though unhappy to see him gone so long with no knowledge of his whereabouts, continued her duties as the Hokage and made it imperative to sign up Naruto for the Ninja Academy. She knew if they continued to get attacked he was going to need it and she wanted him to be one any thanks to how cool his father Minato had been. She smiled thinking back on the tall, blond man with a skills equal to almost no one. "Oh, how I wish he was here," she thought as she lay on the sheets of large queen size bed in a tiny apartment. This place was the home of Minato Namikaze and her before Naruto had even been born and despite the fact that it barely had room for a marble kitchen counter top with a stove, a small fridge and her bed next to a walk in closet it served the two of them well. There was room for a small table and a four chairs too but to take a shower Kushina and her son had to go down one floor and out the back door to a public bathhouse. Right now he was currently lying next to her curled up under the sheets since she considered this the best place to have him after what happened. Yet it occurred to her this was not something that could be permanent.<p>

"Where are you going?" a voice echoed inside her head.

"Nowhere Kurama..." she muttered.

She soon found herself in her own mind staring up at the giant fox who strut towards her and bared his fangs at her. "We're about to start my daily image form training now show me something you want to create." This was a new form of ninjutsu that surpassed shape and nature manipulation and allowed something real to be almost created from nothing. To accomplish this she momentarily pulled off a bauble shaped earring and uttered, "All right, hm, I want a spear." Within seconds the little accessory ended up surrounded in smoke as she surged red chakra through it. A moment later a spear about three feet long weighed her hand down before suddenly disappearing.

"Not good enough! You need to make your summoning longer." the fox voiced as he felt ill-will towards the Hokage's inability to accomplish this task.

She sighed, returned to reality, and rolled over in bed to the right side of it so as to not knock Naruto out of the bed, thanks to him sleeping on her left, and stood up in the pink pajama shirt and shorts she was wearing. She had other things to do rather then retrain herself, which had been doing for the past month. Yawning, she stumbled forward and allowed her eye lashes to flutter as she adjusted to the light. She walked over to the small table her son and her used and looked down to see two things on it. The first was a white scroll that read, "Ninja Academy: Read at Your Discretion". Kushina pulled out a chair, sat down in front of it and thought, "Maybe they accepted him?" The second item was a magazine with the picture of a big, three story mansion on it and an image of the Hokage mountain in the background her face clearly next to her husband's yet slightly below it. She wanted to crumple it up but on the front of the cover image though were the words, "Ninja Accommodations: Living Space for All". She needed to keep this booklet since otherwise she would have to go to the village's housing residency office to find the information she wanted; where could they live? She crossed her left leg over her right leg and was about to open the front page of it when suddenly a rumbling sound shook the whole village.

She stood up immediately and thought, "What was that!?" before hearing Naruto bolt up in his bed and cried, "Mommy! What's going on!" Kushina rushed over to the side of his bed and stated, "I don't know but get out of bed now."

Naruto rolled out of bed in a set of orange pajamas and she quickly grabbed his hand before dashing with him towards the window. Outside a giant shadow overhead. It looked like a giant snake but when the moon shined down upon it Kushina found herself staring up at a creature with a giant, dripping maw. She closed her eyes and immediately found herself within her own mind and Kurama now sitting in front of her on his giant paws. "What is that?" she asked pointing up at her mind's ceiling before forgetting she was inside her own head.

"Huh?" Kurama voice, he was a bit tired but as he blinked his eyes he uttered, "I can't see what you see necessarily unless we're properly linked. I was in the middle of a nap so I have no idea what you're talking about." He put a paw to his muzzle and yawned letting escape a breath of very stinky air which caused Kushina to back away slowly in disgust and yell, "Just take a look outside my head!"

Kushina's eyes in the real world faintly glowed red for a moment as Kurama switched places with her and looked up, "Oh, now that's some serious trouble..." he stated as the giant snake creature lurched forward and revealed that it had a white mask with the word "Rei" written on it. The thing also had four tendrils sticking out of the back of its head that were almost like red hair strands and a long tongue. Below this massive beast common civilians were running out of their houses and panicking before the creature. The moment they saw it they knew they were under attack so they started to run the other way only to find the thing now circling around them to enclose them.

Kurama felt a sharp tug on Kushina's sleeve and found Naruto standing next to him biting his bottom lower lip while voicing, "Momma' what are we going to do about this?"

"Brat," Kurama stated, "We're going to kick its ass."

"Kick its ass?" Naruto was quite confused for although Kushina did use language close to this sometimes he had never heard her speak so openly. Kurama at this point realized his mistake and thought, "Boy, can't wait to see what my other half will think of this kid when he's awake finally." He retreated back into Kushina's mind and Kushina greeted him, "Didja' see it?"

Kurama nodded and answered, "You know that Reibi thing I mentioned a month ago? Well, that's it and it's now taken to trying to follow in my footsteps when I was controlled. It's going to kill everyone here. I have no idea how it got out but I can tell you who it came from. That doesn't matter though now, well, maybe it does. Yet only if you really want to stop this thing. I really have no preference if this village topples over or not though since I'm a demon; although, I can't have someone stealing my show. We're going to need to use that image form training you've been working on to manifest my power in this world. It's the only way to stop it."

He gave Kushina a large grin then immediately took to showing her an upturned right paw. His nails extended from each of his digits and with warning glowed with his chakra. In the real world Naruto backed away from Kushina for her hand began to glow red with chakra in a similar manner. "Kushina, whenever you're ready we can go out there and either kill it or subdue it but the person you'll be ending by doing this is Amaru, that young guy from before, anyhow, just thought you should know I've equipped your right hand with a coat of chakra. It should tear through the Reibi's skin but you gotta' get real close. Make him bleed though and I will be happy since that chakra sucking twit is a real peeve."

Kushina, not sure what to make of all this information decided she was going to make it bleed but only so far as to free Amaru if he was in there. First though she needed to gather a team of shinobi to actually take the creature down.


	8. The Monster Attack and the Foolish Woman

**The Monster Attack and the Foolish Woman  
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><p>Kushina looked down at Naruto next to her and said, "Naruto, don't worry I'll be back before you know it. I'm just going to teach this big, bad monster a lesson and then come right back." She cracked a smile at him and in response Naruto flashed a nervous smile back at her. He was still quite wary of her hand covered in the Kyuubi's chakra but she had done (as far as she knew) all that she could to comfort him on this frightening aspect. He was not ready to meet the mighty Kurama yet or his alternate half if he had not already.<p>

She climbed up unto the window sill and watched the massacre below as the Reibi took to lashing out a tentacle to grab off all people two merchants trying to run away with their goods tied to their backs. One of these merchants was a tall man with broad shoulders and dark black hair. The other was a woman with twin buns on her head of matching color and eyes that were steel gray. The man wore a white shirt with red pants and brown sandals while the woman wore a red and white qi pao with red sandals and dragged with her by the hand a girl of ten years old. This girl was a spitting image of her (at least when she had been that age) and yet despite this she was wearing completely different clothes. She had on a pink qi pao with a yellow embroidery and and fastenings and dark green pants with blue sandals.

"Ten Ten!" the woman cried as she leaped high into the air to dodge one of the Reibi's tentacles on its head, "We need to get away!" The long appendage slammed into the ground and Ten Ten who ended up pulled into the air with her mother soon found herself scooped up into her parent's arms. The woman landed eighty feet from the beast at the front door of Kushina's apartment and the monster turned towards the place breathing a white mist out of its mouth as it. Her father was already there trying to bang on the door to hopefully wake the Hokage. Somehow this creature had gotten out and about in the village and he had no idea what to do about it even though he and his wife had training as shinobi.

_Darkness; do you possess it in your heart? _Its voice demanded as it fired out a long tongue from its mouth and aimed for Ten Ten's parents. Ten Ten's father reacted quickly and pulled a scroll out of his bag before forming a series of hand signs then turned to face their attacker. The scroll unfurled launching a steel chain at the beast and grappled the beast's tongue for a moment causing it cry out in pain as the metal clasped around it and squeezed the organ. Blood seeped from its tongue before it finally launched a stream of purple fire from its mouth and incinerated the metal with dark chakra leaving a smoldering pile of steel.

"Crap," Ten Ten's father growled as her mother turned her back to the beast and pinned Ten Ten's body up against the front door.

"Don't move from here..." she uttered, "...no matter what happens."

Ten Ten nodded in agreement to this. She didn't quite understand but she knew it was important to follow her parents instructions. Above them Kushina watched them fight and then finally jumped out the window. She landed in front of the two shinobi and said, "Finally, some reinforcements have arrived. This thing has certainly not taken the liberty to waste its time. It's come right to the strongest person in the village."

"We could say the same thing about reinforcements arriving!" Ten Ten's father announced as he shook his fist at the Hokage. The monster's been chasing us through the merchant district and nothing I've done has worked on it!"

"Hm, well, then you just need a little bit of my help. This thing is called the Reibi. It's like a tailed beast, so the only thing I could think could stop it is a really skilled ninja or a jinchuuriki."

Ten Ten's father pursed his lips and noticed the strange red chakra glowing on her arm. "You're not thinking of releasing the nine tail's chakra are you!?"

"It's the only way," the red head answered him as she felt him reach out his arm to grab her left shoulder, "don't worry though Kurama and I are on decent terms, even though I cannot fully control his power yet."

Ten Ten's mother shuddered a little bit thinking about the last attack like this on the village. It had cost a lot of lives and though much of the village was still intact because of it a small part of the further out districts suffered some damage. "All right, we'll trust you just get this done."

Kushina turned her head and looked at the woman's back. "You can go into my apartment you know and wait with my son there. You're daughter I'm sure is scared. Just be sure to pick up the house key right under the front door here and return it."

Ten Ten's mother eyed her and gave her a small nod before leaning down, grabbing the keys, and opening the door. She pushed Ten Ten inside then followed her before slamming the door behind her. Kushina raised an eye brow at this and thought, "She didn't have to slam the door. I was thinking of selling the place soon and it'll deteriorate in price if it's damaged."

Ten Ten's father clenched his fists as Kushina turned her head back then uttered, "Sorry ma'am, may I ask what you would have us do in this situation?"

"We are going to not let this thing go a step further. I've a feeling reinforcements will be coming but for now I'll draw its fire. I need you to hit it with a few explosives. I've got to get up close and personal though to draw out the emotions of the person trapped inside. This thing I think is definitely sealed within a person the marking on its head shows that.

"Oh..." Ten Ten's father stated just as the mist cleared around them. The reason the beast had yet to attack them again was because the mist covered them and the Reibi was still slightly injured from his last attempt to attack it. "I suppose I can help you then contain this monster and save the person inside it, but if it looks like things will get out of hand I will help in killing it when others arrive as I'm sure they will."

"You do that..." Kushina stated, "...and I won't forgive you. Bijuu hosts have a right to live and this surely must have come about thanks to an accident. We just need to reseal the host."

"Accident or not a Bijuu is always a threat like the Kyuubi was seven years ago."

"Well, then we'll just have to clean up this mess. Dattebyo!" she cried before running at the Reibi and circling around the right side of it. She made a series of hand seals as she surged Kyuubi and normal chakra through her body. She skidded to a halt then allowed long metal chains to sprout up from the ground and grab the Bijuu by its elongated tail. These chains wrapped around its body forcing it to squirm if it wanted freedom.

The pinned down monster let out a roar that vibrated the air but Kushina held her body as steady as she could. The monster's screech though contained enough force to cause her feet to skid and slide ever so slightly along the dirt beneath her. Ten Ten's father noticed this and quickly pulled out shurikens from a brown combat vest he wore over his lanky frame. It was part of the merchandise he wanted to save from the beast's wrath but now the creature was forcing him to use it. Anyway, he took up three shuriken between his fingers in each hand and let them fly through the air into the monster's body. The pointed tips of each projectile were sharp but like mosquito bites to the beast who in response breathed in heavily and let out a red mist from the front of its mouth.

He jumped up into the air eighty feet then threw out two smoke bombs into the cloud to fumigate the smoke and disperse it. The gray smoke mixed with the red and as he landed he was happy to see that Kushina was still standing but with a huge amount of sweat dripping down from her face. "Don't let it catch you in its smoke cloud. It's got the ability to devour you like the darkness it clearly represents."

"HUH?" Kushina wasn't very smart. Ten's Ten's dad would have to be much clearer for a knucklehead like her.

"If you stand in it's gas clouds too long it will dehydrate you, suck out all of your chakra, and then finally your blood. It's a leech after all." He stated.

"That's nice to know, luckily, I think I have the stamina to deal with it," Kushina scoffed as she made some more hand signs and called forth more of her chakra in order to play her next move. She would run up to the beast's long body and jump onto its head whereupon her hand would descend onto its white face mask and pour energy into its long body. "Eight Trigrams Sealing!" Kushina cried noticing he chakra turn from a mixture of red and blue to a proper purple as it seared the monster's head.

"RAWR!" The beast shook violently in order to throw her but Kushina clung to its head by kneading chakra into the soles of her feet.

Meanwhile, a man with long brown hair and pale, white eyes rushed onto the scene bounding from rooftop to rooftop. He wore a black hakama with a white obi and tan sandals and had a stern look on his face as three other men with similar white eyes and followed after him. They wore matching clothes yet were different from in in regards to the fact that one had x-shaped scars on both cheeks, one had a thick, black hair and the last guy was close to eight feet tall. "Lord Hiashi, it seems the Hokage is taking on the rampaging beast as we feared. Why hasn't she called re-enforcement?" the first of the three asked as they landed on a rooftop opposite the battle site.

"Hm... That is a good question but it's likely because a threat such as this can't be missed by the security forces of our village. Byakugan!" Hiashi answered. His veins bulged and he took it upon himself to peer at the battle below with his clan's special eyes noticing the almost similar levels of chakra between Kushina and the beast. "Then again it could be due to the fact that Kushina is managing to retain the beast by herself with little outside help. But she can't seriously be... using that chakra. Although..."

Kushina struggled for dear life while Haishi watched her from a distance. She grit her teeth as she felt her legs buck under her for a moment and thought, "Where the hell are the rest of the villagers?" She kept her hands on the beast though slowly allowing a spiral shape to form on the monster's head in black ink. "Wouldn't they want to come out and stop a monster like this? It's gonna' kill us all if we don't." She thought long and hard about it as two, speckled flame designs appeared on the outer rim of the spiral but came up with nothing beyond this that seemed substantial for them to keep away except that they were too afraid of the monster.

Kushina though wasn't the most intelligent person around though. She had kind of passed this sense of poor forethought onto her son and as she finished watching the seal completely form remembered she hadn't called anyone to the fight before jumping into it herself. "Just who then would want to come or feel the need to come? Why'd I do this?" She sighed and then began to feel a large decrease of chakra. The monster's mask began to break and without warning the beast started to shrink as the seal began to suck it back in. In order to protect herself from the process she leaped off the giant leech and landed near Ten Ten's father who watched in amazement as the beast shrunk until only a young, dark skinned girl a dark skinned girl with pajamas on was left in the monster's wake. She now sported a lovely tattoo on her forehead.

"Phew..." Kushina croaked, "I can't believe how much energy that took."

"It's understandable why you're lady Hokage now." Ten Ten's father voiced. He looked over to the little girl and then asked, "What do we do with her?"

"I'll take her in, I'm sorry this whole mess occurred. Unfortunately, we don't know why it occurred." Kushina stated walking over to the girl and lifting her up off the ground.

"I-I thank you lady Hokage, you saved my family and a bunch of people. I feel I must repay you." Ten Ten's father voiced as he bowed to her.

Kushina smiled at him then waved her left hand at him in a nonchalant manner before saying, "Ah, don't mention it. I _am _Hokage after all. It's the least I could do even though I'd do this anyway for anyone again."

"Oh..." Ten Ten's father wasn't expecting this kind of answer from her but he didn't say anything more for his daughter came out with his wife.

"That was so COOL!" Ten Ten cried. "I want to be Hokage now!"

Kushina smiled at the girl even though she hadn't done much then walked back towards her house with the girl. The Ten Ten family then waved her off once more and headed back to their home in the merchants' district. Meanwhile, Hiashi and his group of Byakugan users watched from the rooftops the entire scene and when Kushina went back inside her own home he realized the danger had passed.

"Let's go... All of us shall return to the compound."

"But-But lord-" the trio protested.

"This is the punishment we get for arriving late, we'll help with the clean of the village tomorrow if we need to but now let's let the heroes of this story rest. Hm, although, who can say if they really are. A great Hokage would have told us of this situation and allowed more people to step in."

"You-you can't be seriously disdaining the Hokage's actions can you?" his three clansmen stated in unison.

"No, forget I said anything we will let fate decide her foolish actions' consequences later."


End file.
